Lord Mandelson wants to force anyone who plays music to an audience to have to buy an additional £81 a year licence from April. Previously charities were exempt.

The Association of Charity Shops gave warning that the plans could sound the deathknell for marginally profitable charity retailers across the country.

Warren Alexander, the association’s chief executive, said the fresh charge would leave Britain’s 6,000 charity shops, most of which have a CD player or a radio in their premises, with a £540,000 annual tax bill.

The new 'PPL' levy is in addition to the £85 currently paid to the Performing Rights Society for the right to play music to customers or an audience.

Scores of marginally commercial charity shops would be forced to close because of charity trustees have a legal duty to shut a shop which is making a loss or barely in profit.

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Mr Alexander said the plans were “little short of disgraceful”, adding: “The Government has made no reasonable, let alone compelling, case for doing this.”

The new tax would take vital funds away from good causes, he said: “Charity shops do not play music for private gain, but to help raise funds for charity.”

The alternative to paying the new charge was to stop playing music altogether.

But this would mean customers would not want to come to the shops, and volunteers might be less inclined to staff them.

“Either way, charities lose,” he said, adding: “This is a needless and thoughtless extra burden on charity retailers from Government for little or no real benefit.”

Charities gave an indication of the impact of the extra charge to the people they care for.

Mel Banham, head of fundraising at the Lindsey Lodge Hospice in Lincolnshire which has seven charity shops to raise funds, said the extra charge would mean it would have to find extra money to pay for 12 days’ midday meals for 170 patients.

The changes, which come into effect in April 2010, are being imposed by the Intellectual Property Office which is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The Government has admitted in an impact assessment that the move would be “highly detrimental” to some groups which will “cease playing music”.

It is estimated to hit a quarter of a million organisations, including charities, sports clubs, community buildings, rural halls and religious buildings.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is running a 'Don’t Stop the Music’ campaign to highlight the effect of the new levy on the voluntary and community sector.

Liz Atkins, the organisation's director of public policy at NCVO, told The Daily Telegraph: “This change would impose an unnecessary bureaucratic burden and cost on hundreds of thousands of charities.

"These oranisations are the lifeblood of local communities - but more than half of them have an income of less than £10,000.

“For many, the process of applying and the cost of this new licence will simply make it impractical and they may be forced to withdraw some services as a result.”

So far, 80 MPs have signed an EDM calling on the Government to maintain the existing arrangements on music licensing fees for charities.

A spokesman for the Intellectual Property Office said: "Charities, not-for-profit and other Third Sector organisations need to be protected from excessive costs, but we also need to ensure that musicians and performers, many of whom earn less than £15,000 a year, receive a fair reward for their creativity.

"Charities, like any other organisations, need to pay for the services that they use. But clearly there are sometimes differences in the way those costs are addressed."